NCAA 2021 BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
Utah State Center Neemias Queta Put Together Historic NCAA Tournament Stat Line
Mar 19, 2021, 3:36 PM | Updated: 4:34 pm
BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA - MARCH 19: Neemias Queta #23 of the Utah State Aggies reacts after being defeated by the Texas Tech Red Raiders 65-53 in the first round game of the 2021 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Assembly Hall on March 19, 2021 in Bloomington, Indiana. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, Indiana – Utah State center Neemias Queta was a lone bright spot during an otherwise hard day in the NCAA Tournament.
In a game that saw the Aggies fall to Texas Tech, 65-53 in the first round of The Big Dance, there weren’t many positives to pull from for the Aggies. Except for Queta.
Neemias Queta had historic stat line
Queta became only the second player in NCAA Tournament history since 1986 to put together a stat line that featured 10+ points, 10+ rebounds, 5+ blocks, and 5+ assists. The other was former Jazzman and Baylor Bear Ekpe Udoh (2010, Elite 8 vs. Duke).
Utah State's Neemias Queta joins Ekpe Udoh (Baylor, 2010) as only players in NCAA Tournament history (since blocks began counting) to have 10+ points, 10+ rebounds, 5+ blocks, and 5+ assists in a tourney game.
Queta finished with 11, 13, 7, 6#AggiesAllTheWay | #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/Qj1T6Cz4xr
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) March 19, 2021
The 7-foot junior from Portugal, Queta ended up with 11 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists, and an eye-popping seven blocked shots in a full 40 minutes of action.
“Neemi is a phenomenal player, a tremendous person. Not many centers you roll out there for 39 minutes, and that’s not necessarily fair to him, but he’s earned that. He’s just playing at such an elite level. He ends the game with 11 points, 13 boards, six assists, and seven blocked shots, and not many guys in the world, college basketball, NBA, pro basketball, in the world can do something like that,” said Utah State coach Craig Smith.
Friday’s performance in the NCAA Tournament concludes Queta’s junior season. With the way Queta has improved this season on the offensive end, he could be an intriguing prospect to NBA teams if he were to decide to declare for the pros.
When asked about his future in the postgame after the loss to Texas Tech, Queta said, “I mean, I couldn’t tell ya. We just lost a tournament game. This is all we wanted. You just never when you can come back to it. I just want to get better from it.”
Follow Mitch Harper and his NCAA Tournament 2021 coverage from Indianapolis with BYU and Utah State by following KSL Sports on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and the KSL Sports app.
